When I put in a tape and close the door, the mechanism wont decend into the camcorder so I can close the door, please help

SOURCE: tape door wont close

I'm having a similar problem. The camera is a Sony DCR-TRV280. When you put a tape in the tray will not go down. However when the tray is empty and you push it shut it will go down. In other words the mechanism works fine without the tape but with the tape it doesn't. I hope the explanation is clear enough. Thanks

SOURCE: Tape won't load

Was having a similar problem but the tape would not even partially load. Spent several hours, over the course of several days trying to figure how to fix this and found the following solution to a similar problem on this site. I tried it as a last resort...it worked! Now I just need to figure out what to tell my wife when she asks me "how" I fixed the camera???? Here is what I did...I allowed the mechanism to close without a tape inserted (the only way it WOULD close), gave it a solid - but gentle - whack on the tape side of the camcorder with the palm of my hand...sort of like burping a baby. I said a little prayer to the saint of hopeless causes (St. Jude Thaddeus)...slid the open/eject button, opened the door, slid a tape in, gently pushed it down (where it says "push") and ...the mechanism closed!!! Not sure if the "fix" will last but we'll see and report back if the problem crops up again.

SOURCE: Ejection Door won't Close

I had the same problem with my 360X.
I took the camera apart and found two screws loose that hold the tape carrier to the rest of the chassis. The unfortunate thing is that I had to pretty much disassemble the entire camera to get to those two screws. It's working again. I'm assuming those two loose screws were the problem.

SOURCE: Door Jam

Take the battery out and turn selection switch to camera and then turn it off. Put the battery back in and its working again.
if that doesn't work try
Try smacking the side of the camera relatively hard with the palm of your hand. Eject the tape and reinsert. You may need to do this a couple of times.

SOURCE: my camcorder tape door won't close

Try removing the battery for a few seconds, and then re-inserting. This seems to reset something on my DCR-TRV20, and it starts closing properly.